Posts Tagged ‘social networking’

No, I don’t watch TV. No, I have very little information about current TV shows. Yes, I spent much of my time surfing internet and social networks. And since am a big fan of Wael Kfoury’s voice and songs, yes, I liked his page on Facebook and followed him on Twitter. The mentioned social networks, informed me that he was shooting an episode with Asala Nasri. (oh she hosts a TV show now?? really?? she has a degree in journalism or any related field?? – ok time to search google ==> wikipedia; no mention about her education)

Ok, whatever, let’s watch the episode. Oh, but on what channel and when? From Wael’s Facebook page I was aware that the show is named “Soula”; searched Facebook pages and found her, liked the page and posted on their timeline asking for info about the date and timing of the episode; till now, no answer. So there was no way to know except for Wael’s page on Facebook.

Then came the day, me on the couch, TV on, waiting for the episode to begin. The show begins with Asala sitting down and talking and talking, all I could hear was “ana…ana…ana” (arabic word for me) so she was talking about herself not introducing her guests. Then came in Wael with music composer Bilal ElZein. She welcomed them and started to chat. And here’s how it went, she asked questions and once the guests start to answer she interrupts to talk again about herself (“ana laman kenet b london” = when i was in London ; “ana kenet 3end el couffeur *not coiffeur* = when i was at the hairdresser ; bla bla bla). Dear Asala, please note that you have to hear what others have to say especially that they are YOUR guests and YOU have asked them a question.

Ok cut the talking and start singing. Finally Wael is singing, am happy. Oh NO!!! Come on!! She holds her microphone and starts singing Please no 😦 . Now just to prove to you how awesome is Wael’s voice compared to hers, he was holding the mic with a big distance from his mouth, and still his voice was clear whether for high or low musical notes; but for Asala, the mic was very close to her mouth, and her voice really was disturbing.

Now, let’s talk about the band playing the music during the show. I think my little 5 year old sisters play better than them! No, it’s not exaggeration. Wael was asking them to play specific musical notes, they couldn’t. And it was obvious that he was upset, cause his hand was on his face hiding his disappointment.

Another guest on the show was singer Abir Nehme. Wow what a lovely voice!

An hour has passed and there on the screen was “to be continued”! Oh so there’s part two of this “lovely” episode?! Cool.

After one week, it’s time for part two, which was worse than part one. And especially with Asala trying to eat an apple with the mic on. Moreover, Abir was talking about the history of the music for the song “Li Beirut”, Wael asks her to sing it following special musical notes and he asked Asala to join them. Asala answered “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and by the way who sings this song?” Yes, Lady Asala doesn’t know that the awesome Fairuz sings “Li Beirut”!

You know the feeling when you’re watching a football game on TV and you’re so excited you’re about to jump into the TV and kick the ball? I had that same kind of feeling when I was watching the show, but always asking Asala to shut up!

As my mom says about social networks “metel ka2ano we2ef 3ala el sate7 w 3am ysarekh la ahel el 7ara w ykhaberoun shou sar ma3o” and that’s true. Why? Keep in mind that there is no manual with strict rules about what to post online and what not, it all depends on you and your wish to keep stuff private or not. Now let’s go back to the “7ara” part. As in any neighborhood, there is the closest and friendliest neighbor and there is the most annoying neighbor; so is the case with our online list of friends, followers, and circles. Those lists contain people we know from school, university, work, the “ex”, even people we might not know personally, relatives, etc. So, technically, no one stands on the roof top of his house and shouts his news and updates, then why do we do that online?

Let’s elaborate more. Would any girl put her picture in swimsuit on the roof top of her house? elmante2 bi2oul la2. Then why does she post it on her profile, where most of the people don’t care about her activities? Or, if someone is in a relationship, would they shout and scream in their neighborhood telling everyone that they are in a relationship? also elmante2 bi2oul la2. Then why that status keeps changing or your profile, when your “friends” really don’t care?

Or let’s say you’re out with your friends and your parents call you to ask where you are, and check on you; whether you tell them or not, you turn to your friends and complain about your parents intruding your privacy; but you check in on foursquare and don’t care about privacy.

If you had a shower, would you call all your friends and tell them? Is showering an accomplishment? Or is it something you rarely do? Then why tweet it?

Another irritating online behavior is the double personalities people have, i.e. online they show as someone, and in real life they are someone else. Some show as very smart when they post something online, but in real life they are not that smart. Anyway, after all they had time to google before tweeting, posting or replying. Another group of people are those who we know really well, you know their standards, their likes and dislikes; but all of those disappear when they are online. For example, and this is a real example of someone I know, someone who never curses, but brags online about watching an uncensored movie kalimetou men el zenar w nezil.

Am sure there are so many other examples/situations. Please share them.

When I first learned about Facebook, I said to myself “I’ll never open a Facebook account, never.” At that time, I met my cousin who I haven’t seen or heard from in years. (Let’s call him W). We exchanged our contact information and used to chat on MSN a lot to talk about all that went through those years. Until one day he said

“Why don’t you create yourself a Facebook account?”

“Why should I?” was my reply

“We’ll have so much fun.”

“Look, if you need me, call me. And we always chat on MSN, why Facebook?”

W kept nagging that I should have a FB account. A friend of mine also explained to me how FB works and the fact that I can find old friends.

“Find old friends?” I said to myself. “That seems nice. Worst case scenario, if I don’t like FB, I’ll delete my account”

So, I signed up on FB and became friends with W, my friend and many many others. It was kind of fun at the beginning. I was able to contact people (old friends, relatives, classmates, etc) I haven’t seen in ages. But that’s the only advantage I found through FB. And to be honest, me and my cousin used only MSN to talk, and rarely had conversations on FB.

Few months later, I was paying a friend of mine and her husband (I call them my sister and brother-in-law) a visit. Chatting about some stuff and websites, my brother-in-law mentioned Twitter. (I remember it was August 2008). He encouraged me to sign up, and I did. But it was so boring, until lately, Twitter gained more popularity. More of my friends signed up on Twitter, and I also met new people. Twitter was helpful in so many ways: introducing new websites, ideas, bloggers, news, information, etc.